Carry forward lets you use unused pension annual allowance from the previous three tax years to make a larger contribution in the current year without an annual allowance tax charge. This guide explains how it works for 2026/27, including the interaction with the tapered allowance.
How Carry Forward Works
The standard annual allowance limits how much can be paid into your pensions each tax year while still getting full tax relief and avoiding an annual allowance charge. Carry forward lets you add any unused allowance from the three previous tax years to your allowance for the current year, potentially allowing a much larger contribution in one go.
You must have been a member of a registered pension scheme in each of the earlier years you want to use, even if you made no contribution that year, and the current year’s own allowance must be used first before earlier years’ unused amounts are brought in, oldest first.
Interaction With the Tapered Allowance
High earners subject to the tapered annual allowance have a reduced allowance in years their income exceeds the relevant threshold, and it is the reduced (tapered) figure for each of those earlier years, not the full standard allowance, that determines how much unused allowance is actually available to carry forward from that year.
This means someone who was subject to tapering in a previous year may have much less unused allowance available from that year than they might expect if they assume the full standard limit applied.
Worked Example
Suppose someone contributed nothing to a pension for two of the past three tax years, had the full standard annual allowance available in each of those years, and used only part of their allowance in the third. By adding up the genuinely unused amounts from all three years (using the tapered figure for any year tapering applied) and adding it to the current year’s allowance, they could make one significantly larger contribution in the current year without triggering an annual allowance charge, subject to also having enough relevant UK earnings or being within other contribution rules.
It is worth checking pension scheme membership and contribution history carefully for each of the three carry-forward years before relying on a specific figure, since gaps in membership or inaccurate assumptions about tapering can significantly change the amount actually available.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many years can I carry forward unused annual allowance from?
Generally the three tax years immediately before the current one, provided you were a member of a registered pension scheme in each of those years, even if you made no contribution in some of them.
Do I need to have made a pension contribution in earlier years to use their unused allowance?
No — you do not need to have contributed anything in a particular earlier year to carry forward its unused allowance, but you do need to have been a member of a registered pension scheme during that year for it to count.
Does carry forward help if I am subject to the tapered annual allowance?
It can, but the amount available to carry forward from a year affected by tapering is based on that year’s reduced (tapered) allowance, not the full standard allowance, so high earners often have less to carry forward from tapered years than they initially expect.
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Do I use the current year’s allowance or carried-forward allowance first?
You must use up the current tax year’s own annual allowance first before any unused amounts carried forward from earlier years are applied, and among the earlier years, the oldest available unused allowance is generally used before more recent years.
Does carry forward remove the need for enough earnings to get tax relief?
No — carry forward only affects the annual allowance test for avoiding a tax charge; for personal contributions, tax relief is still generally limited to (broadly) the amount of your relevant UK earnings for the current tax year, regardless of how much unused allowance you are carrying forward.
What happens if I contribute more than my total allowance including carry forward?
Any amount contributed above your available allowance (current year plus any carried-forward unused amounts) can trigger an annual allowance charge, effectively clawing back some of the tax relief on the excess, so it is worth checking the total carefully before making a large one-off contribution.
What is the standard annual allowance for 2026/27?
The standard annual allowance is £60,000 for 2026/27, and it is this figure (or the tapered figure in years tapering applied) that carry forward calculations from each of the previous three years are based on.
Can I use carry forward if I have already triggered the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA)?
No — once the MPAA has been triggered, typically by flexibly accessing a defined contribution pension, your allowance for money purchase contributions is capped at the MPAA (£10,000) for that and later years, and carry forward cannot be used to increase contributions above the MPAA, though it may still apply to any defined benefit savings.
Do employer contributions count towards the amount I am carrying forward into?
Yes — the annual allowance test, and therefore any carry forward calculation, applies to the total of your own contributions, employer contributions and any other third-party contributions paid into your pensions, not just what you personally pay in.
Can I still carry forward unused allowance after I have started drawing my pension?
It depends on how you access your pension: taking benefits in ways that trigger the MPAA restricts further use of carry forward for money purchase savings, but simply having other pension income, or accessing benefits in ways that do not trigger the MPAA, does not automatically stop you carrying forward unused allowance.
Disclaimer: This guide reflects UK rules as they generally apply in 2026/27. This guide is for general information only and is not professional advice. Consult a qualified adviser and refer to gov.uk for current official guidance before relying on any treatment.
